Stop Time

Stop-Time, published in 1967, is a memoir by American author Frank Conroy, and tells the story of his poor childhood and early adulthood, growing up in New York City and Florida. Focusing on a series of moments from his life, the book combines traditional fictional devices such as scenes while also delving deeply into the author's psyche. The book established Conroy's reputation as a writer. In his review, Norman Mailer wrote, "Stop-Time is unique, an autobiography with the intimate unprotected candor of a novel. What makes it special, however, is the style, dry as an etching, sparse, elegant, modest, cheerful. Conroy has that subtle sense of the proportion of things which one usually finds only in established writers just after the mellowing of their career." Many younger writers have cited Stop-Time as an important influence on their writing careers including David Foster Wallace. Conroy published his second book, Midair, 18 years later.